Paul Manafort offers $12 million in assets to avoid house arrest

Paul Manafort offers $12 million in assets to avoid house arrest

Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign manager charged with counts including conspiracy and money laundering, is pledging $12 million in real estate and life insurance assets in an effort to avoid house arrest, according to court documents filed on Manafort’s behalf Saturday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

A federal judge earlier this week ordered that Manafort and Rick Gates, his associate who is similarly charged, be placed on house arrest and electronic monitoring. But Manafort’s lawyers argue that is unnecessary. Manafort’s lawyers have already argued in court documents that he is too famous to be a flight risk.

A bond review hearing is scheduled for Monday morning. The case is a result of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian election meddling, and any ties to the Trump campaign, and the grand jury that stemmed from that investigation.

In the court documents, Manafort pledged a property in New York valued at $3 million, a property in New York valued at $3.5 million, a property in Florida valued at $1.5 million, and a combination of life insurance policies held in trust or in his wife’s name valued at roughly $4.5 million, for a total of $12.5 million.

One of those properties in New York is a Trump Tower apartment that Manafort had owned.

In addition to those assets, Manafort would have family members sign as sureties, if necessary, and not apply for any travel documents such as a passport. Manafort, the court documents said, would limit his travel to Washington, D.C., Florida, Virginia and New York, and not travel overseas.

Manafort’s lawyers make an effort to explain why they believe he isn’t a flight risk, and even attempt to explain why he owns three passports, as court records described earlier this week.

“While some reports have painted this as though Mr. Manafort is akin to a 68-year-old ‘Jason Bourne’ character, the facts are much more mundane,” the filing says. “Mr. Manafort possessed a passport, the type of which is generally held by most U.S. citizens. He also possessed a second passport to submit with visa applications to certain foreign countries. (The process for obtaining a visa can sometimes be lengthy and U.S. citizens who travel abroad frequently are no doubt familiar with this circumstance.)”

It adds, “The third U.S. passport was applied for and obtained by Mr. Manafort only after he lost his primary passport. Months later, Mr. Manafort found that passport and contacted his passport services agency to advise them, and the U.S. State Department, with respect to the same.”